THE FILM & WATER PODCAST
Episode 65: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW/TALES FROM THE CRYPT
It’s a spooky double feature! First up Rob welcomes back Nathaniel Wayne to discuss the classic ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, followed by Derek William Crabbe on yet another horror anthology, 1972’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT! It’s just a jump to the left!
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- NATHANIEL WAYNE – https://punchlikeagirlpod.wordpress.com
- DEREK WILLIAM CRABBE – http://hocof.blogspot.com/2010/10/history-of-comics-on-film-part-038.html
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Can’t wait to listen to this episode. I’ve seen Rocky Horror at least 150 times in theaters (I have the ticket stubs to prove it). I used to play Frankenfurter for 2 years (Riff Raff for 6 Months). This was before Rocky Horror was released on VHS so I had to see it in theaters over and over. Once it came out on VHS it got easier to do. It took me 2 hours to get all of Frankenfurter’s makeup applied on by the makeup crew and 30 minutes after the show to get it all off. I also learned how to run in high heels (while flinging a whip at Riff Raff usually). Once our cast had to alter the show because we had a John Travolta joke and he was in the audience one night. Good times.
There are two versions of the film, the Superhero’s song is sung at the end which only a few prints made it to the US. When I saw it a decade later at a theater in Boston I flipped. Now I think the DVD and Blu-Ray version has it already. I know practically every frame of that movie. I look forward to watch the remake on Fox. It has been redone on Broadway a few years back with Joan Jett in it which was fantastic.
I’ve just listened to the Rocky part so far, but I thought I’d chime in.
Great, great discussion. RHPS is one of those films I’ve always liked, and I’ve never really been able to pin down why. I first saw it when it FINALLY came to VHS in the late 80s/early 90s, and I’ve never been to a midnight showing, but it stuck with me. Maybe it was all the horror/sci-fi tropes put on their ears, and the catchy songs. Maybe it’s because I like Meat Loaf (both the singer and the dish). But I think you guys nailed it: it’s just an all inclusive family reunion of weirdness. I didn’t have any gender identity issues or anything like that, but I was a kid who secretly hid that he still read comic books and bought action figures. I never put this all together before this episode, so thanks for the free therapy session.
A few things of note: Rob, I’m with you on Sarandon. WOW. I knew of her before this (Bull Durham was out by the time I saw this), but this made me a fan. I saw The Hunger a few years back for the first time. Another WOW. Oh, and I also found Magenta strangely attractive as well. Columbia is a prototype Harley Quinn in many ways.
Anyway, back out of Shag territory, I remember being floored about Brad’s rather shocking turn with Frank. First time I’d ever seen that in any film with a generic hero type, and I certainly didn’t expect it! Of course Janet gets it on with Rocky, so they’re even, I guess.
Richard O’Brien was in Flash Gordon of course, and showed up in the Drew Barrymore Cinderella remake, Ever After, oddly enough. Surprised to see him there. That’s the last time I recall seeing him in a movie.
Again, great episode. Nathaniel’s passion for the movie came right through!
Chris
Tales from the Crypt is a movie that’s long been on my radar, but I haven’t seen it yet. I’m very slowly exploring the worlds of Hammer/Amicus and the like, because I don’t want to run out of them! I’ve seen images of Cushing as the zombified Grimsdyke, and that is one great makeup! I think the only time we get Cushing in monster makeup, despite his long career in the horror genre.
Great discussion on this one as well. Derek is definitely the go-to-guy on these great horror anthologies, and you still have plenty from Amicus to chose from, like Dr. Terror’s House of Horros, Asylum, and The House That Dripped Blood (a personal favorite of mine, with Cushing, Chris Lee, Ingrid Pitt AND Doctor Who’s Jon Pertwee, how can you go wrong?). I hope to hear an episode on each and every one of these, so get crackin’!
Oh, and nice final stinger Rob. That’s a long way to go for a gag, but it was worth it!
Chris
I saw Tales from the Crypt–or rather, I saw the last half of the movie–years ago. The last sequence with the tormenter sent into a labyrinth of razorblades with the lights off really freaked me out.
I’ve never gotten around to watching the whole thing. That might have to change this Halloween…
I don’t know if this is a problem on my end, but this episode hasn’t shown up on my itunes (both my iphone and laptop).
Chuck-
There seems to be an issue with the main F&W feed. Please subscribe to FILM AND WATER by itself on iTunes and the episode is there. Sorry for the hiccup!
Rob, didn’t we just cover the Apple?
I saw TRHPS very recently for the first time (is THAT weird?) and enjoyed it tremendously, but it really starts when Tim Curry shows up. He really is irreplaceable.
You talked about the Fox version, which I didn’t watch, but a friend of mine did and immediately started bitching about it on a FB chat, so I went and checked some of the scenes on YouTube… It really doesn’t work. It looks and feels like an episode of Glee, for what that’s worth, but it fails to be transgressive because I think WE’VE changed as a culture.
Think about it. They put a trans woman in the Frank role so when she’s rolling in bed with Brad, he’s just cheating on Janet with another woman. I think we’re THERE in terms of thinking of trans women AS women, because that’s what they are! Tim Curry, on the other hand, was shockingly male, his sexual fluidity not innate of actual transsexuality, but ALIEN, as he picked and chose from both genders’ normative behavior willy nilly (a phrase I now see is a dirty pun). That’s just one example. There’s also very little value in some actors essentially doing impressions from the 70s original.
Missed opportunity? Why not make big changes to bring it forward? The original had straight 50s kids confronted with the new sexual paradigm of the mid-70s. If you’re going to “do the time warp again”, how about straight 80s yuppies confronted with today’s paradigm? That might be a lot more relevant to today’s audiences. But I don’t think the Fox remake was in any way interested in subversion, or advancing that kind of agenda.
I could have written an entire article on the David Ace Gutierrez guested High Fidelity episode and a novella on the Nathaniel Wayne guested Rocky Horror Picture Show show, but it kind of feels like tossing comments into a well or as a message in a bottle into the ocean when it comes to Film & Water. Suffice to say I enjoyed the episodes and the movies (especially RHPS) are meaningful to my life.